Rochester Porch Pirate Sentenced for Holiday Season Package Thefts, Drug Case Still Pending
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- One of the two people arrested for a porch piracy spree in Rochester last December has been sentenced.
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Law enforcement came into contact with the same duo last week in a felony fleeing that ended with a meth bust.
Rochester police responded to a report of people taking packages from doorsteps in the area of 7th Street and Lake Ridge Drive Northwest on the afternoon of December 18. Officers found and arrested the suspects based upon witness descriptions.
Rochester Woman Sentenced for Felony Theft Conviction in Porch Piracy Case
Court documents say the packages stolen from the nearby homes were not recovered, but a search of the vehicle turned up approximately 50 grams of methamphetamine. Police also reported finding three replica BB guns.
Police identified the suspects as 41-year-old Cherish Portillo and 37-year-old Jay Ernst. Both charged with felony mail theft and second-degree drug possession.
In March Portillo entered a guilty plea to the felony theft count in exchange for the dismissal of the drug possession charge. She was sentenced to five years probation on Wednesday morning.
Last week, Portillo was charged with second-degree drug possession after being found with 48 grams of methamphetamine.
The criminal complaint in that case says she was riding in a vehicle driven by Ernst that fled an attempted Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office traffic stop on Civic Center Dr. in northwest Rochester.
Read More: Convicted Rochester Porch Pirate Busted with Meth
The two and another unidentified man abandoned the vehicle and law enforcement found Portillo with the drugs on a walking path, the complaint says. She’s being held on $25,000 bail in that case.
Both the theft and fleeing cases against Ernst are still pending.
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